Egg Gang Hatches Fortune In Rare Birds

Smuggling `Rogue' And Pals Are Finally Grounded By Police

High above the Earth's surface, the woman smuggler sat bolt upright in her seat in the jumbo jet and wriggled uncomfortably. Inside her fleece-lined 36-DD pink brassiere, a score of black cockatoo eggs--worth more than their weight in gold--were incubating.

Because embryos would get shaken up and not withstand the rigors of the 24-hour plane journey from Australia, the birds inside the eggs were well-developed and a few days away from hatching.

Then one of the eggs started to crack from within the bra. A fledgling's beak appeared.

The woman, startled, moved too suddenly, and the bird was crushed.

This mishap was a small misfortune for the Black Cockatoo Egg Gang, an international egg-smuggling ring that officials said minted a fortune from the illegal traffic of rare birds' eggs.

At $15,000 an egg, the traffickers made a killing. The ring was finally broken in a joint operation by law enforcement agencies and wildlife sleuths from across the globe.

The first one they got was the bricklayer with the eggs in his underpants. Australian Customs agents pounced on Welsh bricklayer Christopher Owen at Perth airport as he was about to board a flight to London. Secret pockets had been stitched in his underpants and undershirt.

In all, he was carrying eight black cockatoo eggs and 21 Galah bird eggs worth $151,500, according to Australian Customs, although sources in the bird world say those figures are absurdly high.

The customs agents also found a piece of paper that led them back to an address in Perth, Scotland, the home of Bill Grumball. They raided Grumball's home and found the following: A note, probably written by Grumball, advising that the eggs should "slowly dribble" into Britain so as not to alert suspicion; aviaries choked with squawking rare birds; incubators warming 31 eggs; another courier, Michael Graves, preparing to fly to New Zealand with 26 eggs in his pants, and a bra fitted with egg-pockets similar to that worn by Owen.

Owen made a phone call from Perth airport, which the Australian Customs agents taped. That phone call led authorities to Llanybydder, a town in West Wales, where other law enforcement officials watched and waited.

Six weeks after Owens' arrest, they pounced. British police and customs officers arrested Owens' father, Terry, 49, and daughters, Denise, 29, and Nicola, 27, in their homes in Llanybydder.

Officials also busted David Farmer, 41, of Haverfordwest and Alan Griffiths, 72, of Llandysul--the ringleader of the Black Cockatoo Egg Gang. From Griffiths' home they took away eight red-tailed black cockatoos, seven white-tailed black cockatoos and one yellow-tailed black cockatoo.

Griffiths is a local hero in Llandysul, a small town that nestles against the side of the valley. In the local pet shop, the woman behind the counter burst into giggles at the mention of the case.